Editor's desk: The biggest advantage iPhone and iPad have over Android and Amazon

You can pay with money. You can pay with time. You can pay with attention. You can pay with data. Depending on what you have the most of, and what holds the greatest value to you, there exists options to meet your price. Apple and Amazon want your money. Open source wants your time. Facebook and Google want your attention and your data. Sometimes this results in discord. Sometimes in harmony. I'd argue that, with the iPhone, they exist in harmony. Apple charges a premium price for it and, because people willing to pay that price are highly valuable, everyone include Amazon and Facebook and Google want their attention-grabbing services front and center so they can collect as much data as possible. That makes the iPhone not only the only Apple phone on the market, but one of the best phones for Amazon and Facebook and Google customers as well. Hell, throw Microsoft on that pile too.

Sure, the Amazon Fire Phone might be better for Americans on AT&T who live on Prime and Nexus might be better for Android aficionados savvy enough to seek it out, but iPhone is a better, saner, more consistent, more polished experience than a lot of other phones out there, and it gives you access to pretty much everything. You have a lot of choices.

If you find Apple best aligns with your values and what's important to you, you can buy an iPhone and stick to iCloud and iTunes and never have to worry about anything else. You can pay your money, take your goods and services, and go on about your business. If you prefer the primary services of Google or Amazon, or even Microsoft you can use those as well, all of them or any mix of them you choose.

(I use Apple services personally but everything at work runs off Google.)

Google I/O starts this week. The keynote will be on Wednesday. There will be a lot announced for Android, but I'm guessing we might just see some interesting things for the iPhone and iPad as well.

Take photos for example. Nokia has done some great work with camera optics. Apple leads the industry on image signal processors (ISP). Google, on the other hands, is doing its heavy lifting on the server side. And unlike sensors and chips, servers can work on photos from any device. That's only one example. There's plenty else Google could announce that would be of interest to iMore's community.

Apple is getting its own new photos services up and running with iOS 8, of course, for those who want to stick only to Apple's ecosystem and don't mind paying for the over 5GB privilege.

But for those for whom data — their photos and other content stored on Google's servers — and attention — the Google screens and ads they have to stare at — are an easier or lower price to pay, then I/O and next week will mark the second or third major event of the year. Both Microsoft and Amazon have had their shows already and iOS has gotten Office for iPad (technically before Build) and Amazon Prime Music (technically before Fire Phone). WWDC offered nothing for Android or Amazon or anyone else.

That's the biggest benefit of being on iPhone or iPad. We really can have it all.

Our sibling site, Android Central, is going to be providing complete Google I/O coverage. I'll be watching it with great interest. Will you?

Dude I don't know what iPhone you may have had or someone bootlegged you. I honestly don't know of anyone that has had the "blue screen of death". My guy ndogdrumz is right the iPhone is reliable more than any other phone. I have bounced around from Apple to Android several times and I know where my needs are met and its Apple. iPhone works without battery pulls and lags.

I'm not picking sides here but "breakable" doesn't make the difference between a good and bad smartphone. My old Nokia candybar phone was wayyyyy more durable than any smartphone made today but that doesn't make it any better than an iphone or a flagship android phone today. My samsung flatscreen is more "breakable" than my old tv, its definitely a better tv even if it is more breakable. All of these petty back and forth arguments are dumb.

I don't know how unreliable any Android phone is, but despite the iPhone being of excellent quality and solidly built, it really isn't any more reliable than any other product or computer I have owned. Every iPhone I have even had, and I've had them all, has had some sort of problem or glitch or failure of it's hardware or software at some point. Most are easily fixed and it isn't really a problem, but the idea that they are super-duper reliable or more reliable than other products I have not found to be true at all.

My current iPhone 5 for example is failing because the lightning port is glitching out. This despite being treated with kid gloves and being less than two years old. It cost me about a thousand Canadian to buy it, and it will cost at least a hundred or more to fix.

Having used Android phones for 3 years, and still owning a Nexus 7, I can attest to how horribly unreliable Android devices are.

My Android phones - Moto, HTC and Samsung all had issues with GPS not locking on at least once a month. Never happened to any of my iPhones. The Motos in particular crashed and needed a complete reboot at least daily. The closest iPhone got to that was iOS 7 before 7.1 and its springboard reboots.

My favorite though was how my Moto droids would silently go into airplane mode on me every few days - no calls, no wifi, no BT and no telling me it happened.

All these Android problems were well known but never fixed. Simply put, getting a bug fix for Android requires Google , the manufacturer and the carrier working together and spending the time - it rarely happens.

None of my many Android phones came even close to the reliability of any iPhone.

As far as hardware, I have dropped my iPhone 5 three times onto concrete (sidewalk, garage) from about 4 feet and never damaged it. It always had a cheap case.

The only phone I ever broke was a Samsung Galaxy Nexus that dropped about 6 inches onto a coffee mug and the screen shattered.

Software will always have that riskiness. Difference is, Apple will fix the issue. Android will fix it while messing something else up. Funny how apple releases a software once a year (with updates of course). But how many damn candy bars are we at with android???

iphone and ipad are phones and tablets.... android is an operating system... amazon is a company... your headline says "The biggest advantage phones and tablets have over an operating system and a company"... and get over yourself... the extra elitist attitude coming from iMore has become unbearable...

You shouldn't waste the keystrokes Rene. Dave's a Google cheerleader and like is typical with all fanboys, resorts to name calling instead of honest debate (notice, it goes both ways). I find it comical though that an Android developer trolling a site called 'iMore' bitches about positive Apple editorial content. What did you expect Dave?

This is why I hate Android fanboys. It’s cool if you like it, but once you become an Android fanboy zealot, then you have lost a credibility. You should have just told him to go change his widgets and keyboards, since that is all Android users do. They don’t actually USE their phones. They just TINKER with them.

Actually, I do use my phone, as well as the other millions of Android phone users. With that being said, I do like how Google makes their products and services cross platform. I do wish Apple did that in some cases, maybe like for imessage or face time. It would be nice to be able to communicate easily with people, regardless of the platform they are on.

I’ve owned Android devices, so no, I’m not fanboyish. Fanboys are ones that haven’t ever what they hate. Actually, I’ve owned cell phones since the days of the single line LED display. So I’m far from a fanboy.

I totally agree! Not that it's wrong to have pride in your mobile OS, but the majority of people get high-end Android smartphones and really don't do anything but play games cause Android lacks reliable productivity or useful productivity apps. Well that's maybe just how I've seen it correct me if I'm wrong, but from the hundreds of people with high-end android smartphones this is my observation. But I agree with your point of view.

You forgot one thing Rene. You can't have the best of both worlds because the iPhone isn't open. You can only get the best of Google if it was. Since Google Now needs to always be running as a system level service iPhone will never have Google Now working as well as it does on Android. You have to launch an app. If you choose to use Google over Siri you can't set an option to say "Ok Google" on any of the home screens like on Android and that may even start to work with the screen off. Yes, can use Google services but they are hobbled because of the closed system that iOS is.

Actually, I tried to give Google Now a chance a while back, and it actually worked fairly well on my iPhone. It runs most things as a background service (as best it can). While it may never have the same capability as in Google's own mobile OS it actually has quite a bit.

I really only uninstalled it because it didn't offer me a whole lot over my current options (since I'm not willing to put all of my data into the Google cone of trust) and also it was a bit more battery-draining than I'd like to see (although I don't technically blame Google for that).

You can probably find millions of articles comparing Android(software) to iPhone(hardware) regarding market share or agenda driven research firms. I'm not saying your comment is wrong but it's just the way it is.

To answer Rene's question: I just can't be bothered with non-Apple stuff at all. I'm certainly not going to spend any money on it myself. I find it OK to be briefed now and then on what is happening on the other side of the moat though.

On the flip side, Google's model may be destroying innovation in innumerable markets. They generate $$$ billions from web ads, spend some of it on random software projects, then dump that software on the market. The quality might not be very good, but hey, its' free. And it's "still in beta." And small, vulnerable companies (with superior products) die because they can't compete with free.

In many ways, Google is like a 14,000 ton puppy. It's so cute, it's so immature, it's so happy to see you. And it's too naive to understand that it can kill you if it pees on you by accident.

Kind of like Microsoft in the '90s, except MS wasn't cute, their software wasn't free, and they pooped out FUD to kill young, vulnerable would-be competitors.

How are they destroying innovation? Are they suing everyone with their patents trying to take out their competition. I assure you they could have sued plenty of people to stop competitors but they don't. If you start a suit with them then they will use them defensively.

Siri has / was been in beta I believe up till iOS7. It wasn't very good. It still has to connect to a server so it doesn't work "reliably" which is why everyone on an iPhone doesn't use it. If it worked people wouldn't be turned off by it. Google glass is in beta and charging a lot of money to keep people off of it who are likely looking for a consumer product. They need software for it. The only way is to get developers to use it. It's not ready and everyone including good has said so.

Dumping... You say Google is dumping software. You just complained they make their money from ads. Why do they make so much from ads if anyone can do it? This is because they tell their users of their service that we give you this for FREE and you give us YOUR DATA so we can smartly target ads to you as well and figure out cleaver ways to use YOUR DATA so we can make money to pay our employees. The cleaver things they do with OUR DATA is make things like Google Now. If you haven't used it for a month or two on Android where GIVE Google your data you have no idea what your missing. People who do and have used this service finds it CREEPY because of how good it tells you something before you know you need it.

"It can kill you if it pees on you..." Really, that would be smart. Lets piss off our user base so they go to MS or Apple. Sounds smart. I guess they were smart enough to realize the 85% of the people on the Earth don't have money to spend on anything but necessities and even some who do would rather not spend money for something they can get free even if it does mean they have to give something in return. We've been watching TV ads for how long to pay for our tv shows?

I am hoping that there will be some changes with iOS 8 that make it the perfect OS for me. Right now I have android and iOS, as well as have ordered a WP 8 device. I try to evaluate all of them once each year. There are a few features that Android has that I wish iOS would adopt, one of those is the option to download an app or file of any size. I jailbreak my iPhone for literally one app, 3G unrestrictor. I use 3G unrestrictor on the app store and on my Audible app.

Another thing I would like to see is, with the 5.5" iPhone, the ability to use iPad apps. While many apps are universal, several are not. With a 5.5" screen, I could quit carrying my iPad mini around and just buy an iPad Air.

True Rene, but for me, the 16:9 ratio would feel awkward on a 5.5" phone. I doubt they will allow iPad apps on the 5.5" iPhone, I am just wishing. I am also hoping they don't make the iPhone any thinner this year. It reaches a point where it is a negative instead of a positive, unless they are building iPhones with cases factored in. Even my 5S is uncomfortable for me to use without a case on it.

I agree with the idea that if they are going to make a 5.5" phone, that iPad apps are what the average person is going to want to use, which is why I think they need to make a smaller iPad. The whole point of a large phone is that it's a blended device that can perform as a large phone and a small tablet at the same time.

Hopefully the so-called 5.5" iPhone doesn't actually exist and it's an iPod touch gaming machine or something. The sweet spot for a small tablet or phablet (based on Android sales) seems to be a 6" or 7" device, whereas the iPad mini is 8".

BB10 isn't a bad experience, I just couldn't get used to some of its quirks. You will notice one of them in the BB app, text bubbles are juxtaposed on sender and receiver compared to iOS, Android, and WP8. That and, at the time that I tried it, the hub didn't auto reset to the main page. You had to back up every time in order to be at the top level of the hub.

Why wouldn't you be able to recommend Android after using a Nexus 5? I have used a Nexus 5, GPE M8, and 5S in the last 4 months and I honestly can't say that any of them are LEAPS AND BOUNDS better than the other. They all have their positives and negatives.

I think it comes down to to UX. Subjectively, I prefer iOS. Objectively, while I keep hearing about all the things Android can do that iOS can't, it's just not that easy configuring it. Case in point: Hangouts. As an SMS app it's a mess and I had to find a replacement app that I'm still not real happy with. Maybe there is a better one, but Apple gets it right, or right enough, out of the box.

"iPhone is a better, saner, more consistent, more polished experience than a lot of other phones out there."

Allright, but when i plug my Android phone in every PC i can copy without any restrictions all the files that i need/want, and the reverse. This one kills all any other "great" subject that iOS have.
Oh, and the liberty to personalize the way i use the Android easily, changing the icons, the look, the keyboard, even system changes, new laucher, etcetara etcetara.
These are the dumbest things that iOS lacks. Just who never use Android thinks that this is nothing, but after you use for some time, you will miss later if you don't have

That's one of the big advantages of Android. It's funny, Google is the cloud company, and ChromeOS (and webOS, frankly) are far more Google-like products than Android. But Android is an old school computing technology, like iOS and LiMo, etc.

Copying files too and from a PC feels like the dark ages, like floppy disks and dot matrix printers, but for some people it's incredibly important, so like I said in the article, it's great we have choice!

I do miss webOS :( I wish Google or even Blackberry would have bought it. That way we would at least be seeing new phones. Hell, BB10 blatantly copied to card system, would have loved to have seen webOS keep going.

I had an argument with a relative just yesterday over this exact issue. His argument was that Android was better because he can "... make a folder, and drag files over from his computer to the phone." He was angry, and he was adamant that this was a really big deal to him and he could not understand why Apple would not let him do this.

So I asked him what the files were, and it turns out that he saves YouTube videos he thinks are funny to his Windows hard drive, and then copies them to his phone, so that when he is out and about he can show them to his friends. Needless to say this "want" is both old-school (he is in his 50's), but also just a case of "doing it wrong."

He isn't talking about sideloading apps. He is saying that his android phone shows up as a drive on his computer. This makes it easy to move documents, movies, songs, or just use the drive as storage. This also means that Android has a file system that is accessible to the user, which allows better interaction with websites for attaching files, etc.

I have noticed this too. It's pretty humorous. Obviously projecting his inadequacies. I have said it before, I see people paying with food stamps at the grocery store all the time and 9/10 times they are rudely yammering on an iPhone.

Why do you need to copy files to/from your device like DOK?
How is that more efficient than cloud services?

The liberty to personalize the UI is not useful unless you like 12 years old.
Why did you bought a specific device that comes with a specific UI and UX just to changed it? people like you drive me crazy buying an HTC and make it looks like Samsung for example..

Also, that is an invalid and antagonistic comment about personalizing the UI. Is Apple now catering to the 12 year old crowd by allowing 3rd party keyboards? I wouldn't think so. The ability to customize your phone is a nice feature, whether it is only superficial like icon changes, or more ingrained like keyboard or phone dialer.

Don't know about you but there is wifi connectivity all around me no matter where I am.
At work, at friend'a house, at home, university, restaurants etc..
So I don't need to worry about data usage at all.

I don't worry about data usage because I have unlimited on Verizon, but that isn't the same for everyone else. As for wifi, not all places have wifi. Some of your more rural areas, your phone is the best source of wifi you can get.

As Devil's Advocate, I'll toss it out there that this is one reason I *use* iOS instead of Android. I used to tweak my systems. But time is money. I don't do that stuff anymore. I don't care to, and I consider it a waste of time now. I tweak my development environments when I can, but that's it. And that's generally just to be more productive.

I don't find anything in Android that makes me more productive when I tweak it.

That said, I have no problem with options in iOS for others to use if they wish. However, these things are never as easy as they sound. It *sounds* easy to just toss a toggle in there for "advanced springboard" options. But what does that mean? Is a "launcher" now an app? If so there are what... a few hundred APIs that would need to be added to support that securely. For something how any people would use? And that is time that could be spent implementing something else. Everything has hard costs, soft costs, and opportunity costs.

I am curious to see if Extensibility will start pushing outward in the next few years. Who knows, if it works well for keyboards and such, maybe it will work for an alternative Springboard. Or Springboard plugins, or whatever... But personally I'm fine with Apple taking it slow and getting it right.

"when i plug my Android phone in every PC i can copy without any restrictions all the files that i need/want, and the reverse. This one kills all any other "great" subject that iOS have."

This is an advantage, but I don't think it's a killer feature over all. Maybe for some people, but I don't know many people for whom this is important. I don't remember when I last used a USB stick drive.

"Oh, and the liberty to personalize the way i use the Android easily, changing the icons, the look, the keyboard, even system changes, new laucher, etcetara etcetara."

For me this is just a pain in the bum. Nice to be able to customise, but you have to customise to get it right, IMO. That's just wrong. Horses for courses I guess.

While I wouldn't be upset if Google bought Facebook and shut it down, I fail to see how giving the money to the homeless is the right answer. Maybe buy Facebook and give jobs there to the homeless? I don't mind helping people help themselves, but I don't like just giving people things as I feel it breeds laziness.

i tried a Samsung Galaxy S4 & S5 when they first came out and i really agree with Rene Apples simplicity and integration into their own ecosystem makes everything just work. I could never get my android to interface well with my macbook no matter how much i tried and all i really wanted to get on it was my music it was just such a blah experience after apples ease of itunes integration.

Another plus is apples lack of bloatware from the carrier that was the biggest thing that annoyed me about my GS4 and GS5 and it was terrible that there was an AT&T, Samasung and Google app that did the same thing but you couldn't get rid of any of them with ease (at least from my expirence). Stock Android is awesome leaps and bounds over any of the Touchwiz or Moto Blur but it was way too much of a pain to get that stock experience like you get from a iPhone out of the box. And Yes the customization is great on android but it causes lag and an unstable phone from my experiences.

Phones all are give and take and ill give up the ability to change icons and lay-outs to not deal with the carrier bloatware (reminds me of when i had a blackberry and all i did was create my own version of the OS to eliminate all that useless junk)

Mike, what you mentioned would be the same thing if Apple allowed Samsung to make a phone using iOS. That is why I like the pure Android experience... which I can't without rooting, as I am on Verizon.

Any worthwhile app or service from Google and Amazon as well as Microsoft is finding its way onto IOS. That's just a fact. You are 100% correct Rene.
There are many good devices out there. The Samsung Galaxy S5 is a nice handset. Apple just ticks more of the boxes overall for me.
My wife has a Samsung Galaxy S5 as a work phone and an iPhone which is her personal phone. She started out messing about with it in the first couple of days out of interest. A week later she had setup call forwarding to her iPhone and the Samsung just stays in her handbag.
Apple has gotten things right most of the time and overall IOS is just an easier and more pleasurable user experience.

"If you find Apple best aligns with your values and what's important to you"

What values are they? Sending jobs overseas and paying slave wages for long hours to poor uneducated workers? Those kind of values? Oh, but Apple supports LGBT's and all that stuff, lol. Let me tell you something, Apple would support midget-tossing if they thought it would help their bottom line in any way.

Tim Cook standing up at a share-holders meeting and saying Apple will continue with their environmental and accessibility initiatives, screw the bottom line, shows there's a pretty good swath of values going on there.

But I was talking about taking money rather than selling user data. If you don't want to deal with Apple, you have Google as an option. If you don't like Google's deal, you have Apple.

Well yes, they are a business. Businesses are designed to make money and watch the bottom line. Any charitable act is a calculated measure . The public image a company creates for itself is a calculated measure. Apple isn't alone in this, and honestly, as a shareholder I would hope that they continue to do it.

What a load of trolling nonsense. "Sending jobs overseas" was a problem in the USA in the 1970's (whence the term originated). The fact that you even mention it marks you as either old in body, in mind, or both. The market has been global for many decades now and to turn it back into a lot of little countries and silos would be disastrous for all. Secondly, the idea that Apple pays "slave wages" is an outright lie of huge proportions and again, a buzzword used by older US based conservatives who have no idea of the global market or literally anything outside of the USA. The wages Apple pays to it's Chinese workers are actually top dollar relative to that economy.

I'm still unsure how good microsoft services are in macs and iOS. Office for Mac never gets updated, and I'm unsure how good to integration of sky drive and things are on iOS or Mac. I'm kinda deciding which set if services to go with: apples, MS, or googles. For amazon I only use them really for ebooks, video purchases, and if I buy mp3s and there cheapervtherevtgan in iTunes.

I agree, except for Office for Mac. It actually gets updated quite a lot.

More so than most other Mac applications, and more often than an iLife or iWork update. The base product is also produced every two years on average, just like Office for Windows and again, more often than most other apps of any kind.

Coming from one of the rare people that absolutely love both Android and iPhones i have to say it gets very frustrating having to wait for updates for android phones. Android updates typically have to pass 3 levels before they get to you unless you have a nexus device. Samsung for example, the update is created by Google, than Samsung would take it and incorporate their Touchwiz overlay , and last it goes to your carrier. Majority of the time the next update is being released or already has been released when you finally get the previous one. Apple updates are phenomenal. Every phone and iPad with the exception of way older outdated models are all updated the same day. On the other hand the customization of Android is 2nd to none. Jailbreaking does give you a lot of fun cool options but nothing like Android, especially if your rooted. its really about what your into. if your all about strictly calls, text, emails and being simple yet powerful than iPhone is probably your best bet. iMessage is by far the best messaging app I've ever used. if your into big beautiful phones with tons of customization options and cool features than maybe Android is for you. i like both. i am literally on my 3rd 5s since it was released, i have now had all 3 colors. im a habitual craigslist trader so i jump all around from flagship to flagship , but i will say this, nothing holds its resale value like an iPhone, period

This whole article seems like its a "be calm guys I know Google I/O is coming and you will see a lot of cool stuff, but the iPhone is the best".

Why do we need it just before Google I/O?. I never see these articles on Android Central. That site just focuses on how great and how many issues Android have. Never something that could instigate flame wars.

I think you are the best editor-in-chief on mobile nations, I just hate when you do these strategically placed articles of comparison when competitors have their day. Just say nothing, let them enjoy.

Since Google really doesn't manufacture a phone (Yes they dumped Motorola to Lenovo) what is the reason they would continue development of Android? Because they are gathering your data, selling it and sending you advertisements.

Apple on the other hand is making a butt ton of cash on the iPhone and yes they are using iADs but I am yet to see evidence that they are selling any of your personal information. That's not what Apple is about. They want to keep all their information close to the vest.

Over several strong beers I was talking to a friend about Google and iOS. It spawned out of him asking about iCloud backups and Photostream - for something that "just works" it confused the crap out of him. He's used to an open file system and photo services like G+ or Dropbox that just back up photos for him to go view or do with what he pleases. Over the course of the next beer we got in to why something like Photostream is the way it is vs something like G+. It's a different business model, that's all. Google wants your data in any form on their server and Apple wants to funnel things back down to physical hardware. Allyson put it really well when she described it as a distribution service. It is meant to put your photos somewhere to store them physically - preferably on that Mac you just bought.

But that is the difference in a nutshell: how the companies want to monetize their user bases. And to Rene's point that does make Apple users a prime target for services: have iPhone, willing to pay. For now, other companies are willing to put what they have to offer on the iPhone to get at that paying customer base. I don't think that is Apple's biggest advantage, though. Third or fourth, maybe.

The biggest advantage is the dedicated developer community. As long as Apple can continue to excite them and reward that excitement with profit there will always be new ways for iOS devices to to provide value to the customer base. As useful as apps can be on other platforms and as good as those devs are I just don't see any group as passionate or creative as the ones on iOS. It makes things special here.

I generally agree with this, but I think you leave out the equation of value. For instance I personally am only concerned with paying with money and eschew all those other methods of "paying," so iPhone and iPad are the best for me and always will be. That doesn't mean however, that I agree that the price I am paying is fair or equal to the value I am getting.

The argument also leaves hardware out of the equation and treats all the hardware/software platforms as equal in capability, when they are not. For instance it took Apple about 5 years to make iPad hardware that is even close to what I actually want and need for my work.

I'm curious about what line of work you are in. I'm also curious if Android tablets have been able to do it before Apple tablets.

The iPad isn't too useful in my line of work (other than as a testing device, of course, you have to resort to "hacks" or "workarounds" to use it to produce most types of software or enterprise web apps -- even though Android tablets technically have a filesystem, this alone still doesn't fix the issues and you have to resort to similar hacks and workarounds to use them).

As more detail, I basically have to put an actual computer (usually a server) that can run certain software runtimes (such as Java, Ruby, etc) in the mix. And even then tablet productivity just isn't good enough for efficient work. :(

I have had many, many jobs over the years, but predominantly in tech, design, and tech design. I work as a freelance writer and artist on my off/down time.

I can't really talk about what I do at work, but I use a variety of Mac computers and servers and pretty much always have, all the way back to the Mac classic. I have used and abused almost every computer and OS I've ever heard of over the years except for perhaps Sun.

My main personal computer nowadays is the iPad mini. Since all my home based work is writing and drawing, the iPad immediately replaced my home computer as the main writing device since the first day it came out. Sadly, it will probably be a long time until iPads are capable of doing any kind of real drawing however. I actually use a stick, dipped in a bottle of old fashioned india ink for that and it beats the iPad hands down.

The only reason I have other computers in my home at all anymore is that my iTunes and iPhoto libraries need a place to live, and also AppleTV requires you to have a home computer. Apple's iCloud solution for media is not really a workable solution for anyone who cares about their media IMO. It's also really expensive for no reason.

I would just like to say thank you for this article I completely agree. I have been a android user for over six years have gone through five different android phones. I am now on my first iPhone 5S and cannot believe the consistent ability that it has. It does what I need when I needed it does not say unfortunately Apple services have quit or authorization failed it consistently does what I needed to do when I needed to do it it is a time saver. I have had over two months now and it has not slowed down one bit. I am not here to bash android phones but I am here to say that on a professional level when I need my time I need something that will help me utilize it best.

They do. Heck, they even have an Ads network too. Yes, your iPhone and iPad and smart devices are tracking and collecting data about you. That's just the way they work. They wouldn't be "smart" if they didn't.

Choose your data collecting poison. Apple's or Google's or Microsoft's or Amazon's. And these are the ones we know. Heck, my analytics plugin on my browser is telling me imore.com has 14 trackers tracking me.

The moment you plug into the interwebz, someone or something is tracking you and collecting data about you. Get over your false sense of privacy when you connect to the Internet, because there's none.

Buying an Apple device is not going to make you any more or less private or secure or data-gathering-proof. If Apple is going to survive the next few years, they're going to have to collect massive amounts of data about you.

Why? Because your smart device can't make informed decisions without massive amounts of data processed by a neural network. And if Apple can't compete with the Amazon's and Google's and now Microsoft's in this space, then they're fucked.

No amount of shiny "premium" materials will mask the frustration of using a device with poor services because it can't make "smart" decisions due to lack of data.

You are just completely wrong about all of this. There is a big difference between, "data collection is involved," and "personal data will be collected."

A good Analogy would be that Apple knows your address, but won't tell anyone unless you okay it. Google on the other hand, has the keys to your front door and hands them out to strangers.

Their reaction to the police/army/spies are different also. It's right in the user agreement. Google answers every single request from the authorities for data, by simply giving them that data. Every time. Apple makes sure that the request is legal first, and then only grants *some* of those requests.

Let me also remind you that Apple has your credit card information, address, location data, computer data, and your tastes in music, movies, tv shows. So the whole personal data will not be collected argument is laughable.

Oh and guess what, Apple too has an Ads network. And yes, your iData is "rented" out to strangers too via iAd.

Yep Lateef Alabi-Oki is 100% correct. Anyone who thinks Google does any kind data transfer of you to another company then I have a bridge to sell you. They keep your data in a vault that they only have access to. They have a hell of a lot of data but it's in a vault. They take the ads go in their vault and decide who people get which ads. They may dumb down the data and sell something that says user who are 25 to 30 download the following apps most but never identify you or give out your address. Wow. It's amazing how easy people just believe anything.

It's not their fault, per say. The blame lies entirely on irresponsible tech journalists who deliberately spread this misinformation.

Google has never sold data. They use your data to target ads, but they don't sell the personal data. Google gets paid when people click on their targeted ads.

Yet, I can't tell how many times I've read on blogs and heard in podcast so called respected journalist, especially with a pro-Apple bent, saying things like, "Google sells your data." It's a classic FUD tactic.

By the way, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, all do targeted ads, yet nobody ever claims that they sell your data. That honor somehow only belongs to Google.

All that matters is that I don't like the way Google uses my data. It's creepy AF and so I use other services that tend to not read my email and sell me stuff based on my searches, we traffic and email. I am certainly not going to buy my mom a Nest because I don't want her to have eventual targeted ads coming through on her thermostat. Thanks but no thanks. I am not your product!

Wow. I'm sorry but you don't know what your talking about. It's like someone told you something and you blindly believe it. You should fact check things you hear. People don't know what they're talking about.

“We are in contact with the SEC to clarify the language in this 2013 filing, which does not reflect Google’s product roadmap. Nest, which we acquired after this filing was made, does not have an ads-based model and has never had any such plans.”

“Nest is being run independently from the rest of Google, with a separate management team, brand and culture. For example, Nest has a paid-for business model, while Google has generally had an ads-supported business model. We have nothing against ads – after all Nest does lots of advertising. We just don’t think ads are right for the Nest user experience.”

While Nest is granting use of certain Nest Learning Thermostat functions, Rogers told Forbes that access to data from on-board motion sensors will be restricted.

"We've been building it for about a year," he said. "One reason it's taken us this long to build is we realized we had to be incredibly transparent with our user about data privacy."

Rogers said Nest plans to task a small team with vetting apps and how they link to Nest's platform. He went further by saying Google Now will not be able to harvest user data for Google's targeted ad business.

"We're clear our data can only be used for what a developer will use it for," Rogers said. "We don't want anyone to make the rob-my-house app."

This has to do more on creating a platform ala Home Kit.

And yes it's still the same. Opting in means you have to change you settings to participate so yes it's exactly what I said. None of this has ads as what you said would happen.

"At this point there are no changes," Fadell said. "The data that we collect is all about our products and improving them. If there are any changes whatsoever, we will be sure to be transparent about it, number one, and number two for you to opt into it. "

==========
b. Consent to Use of Data: You agree that Application Provider may collect and use technical data and related information, including but not limited to technical information about Your device, system and application software, and peripherals, that is gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, product support and other services to You (if any) related to the Licensed Application. Application Provider may use this information, as long as it is in a form that does not personally identify You, to improve its products or to provide services or technologies to You.

d. Services; Third Party Materials. The Licensed Application may enable access to Application Provider’s and third party services and web sites (collectively and individually, "Services"). Use of the Services may require Internet access and that You accept additional terms of service.
==============

I donno. I have to use a Nokia on the side because of the superior Nokia location services. Now, if only Apple offered somethng so good, I might manage with a single phone. But as everyone knows, Apple maps are an evil joke gone wrong. That fact alone ought to have had Cook sacked long ago.

Using 2 android devices as daily drivers (HTC one GPE and nexus 7) I can't agree with your conclusion. Both devices run the latest android version which IMHO has a very polished and smooth experience; design wise I think Google hit the nail with KitKat and L looks promising too.
I think the worst thing about android are all the custom skins which don't deliver the same quality and design language Google tries to implement since KitKat.